| About this Abstract |
| Meeting |
2025 TMS Annual Meeting & Exhibition
|
| Symposium
|
Elucidating Microstructural Evolution Under Extreme Environments
|
| Presentation Title |
On the Microstructural Evolution Under Irradiation in Reactor Pressure Vessel Steels and Its Effects on Hardening and Embrittlement |
| Author(s) |
Lorenzo Malerba, Nicolas Castin |
| On-Site Speaker (Planned) |
Lorenzo Malerba |
| Abstract Scope |
Radiation-induced hardening and embrittlement of reactor pressure vessel (RPV) steels in current light water reactors has been extensively investigated for several decades, because of the irreplaceable and lifetime-limiting nature of this component. Over these decades, the main ‘culprit’ for embrittlement has shifted from copper precipitation to late blooming phases. Here we describe and discuss a microstructural evolution model that is proving seminal in terms of enabling reliable physically-based quantitative predictions of RPV steel microstructure evolution and subsequent hardening and embrittlement. When applied to hundreds of cases, its assessment of embrittlement versus dose and other variables is better than with any available empirical correlation. This model also makes compatible atom probe results of density and size of solute clusters from different labs, enabling trends to be more clearly seen. Still open issues are discussed. |
| Proceedings Inclusion? |
Planned: |
| Keywords |
Modeling and Simulation, Nuclear Materials, Iron and Steel |